Under the Dying Skies of Palaven
by thesarge400
Summary: "We're all dead anyway," Kal said, grin still there. "Just make them pay for it."


Kal slid behind what was left of a buildings support pillar. Sliding to the ground, the marine dropped his rifle as he began to check the hole in his side. The layers of suit protecting him from the outside world were shredded, blood dribbling out of him like water from a leaking pipe.

Pure adrenaline was keeping him from passing out in pain.

Palaven was in ruins. The capital city of Cipritine was in ruins. Everything was in ruins. Reaper dreadnoughts were blasting apart defenses to the north and east, ground forces were raising all sorts of hell in the south. And at the very center of it, stood a unit of quarians, assigned with repairing and protecting a single comm relay. The Turian Hierarchy deemed it the most important asset in the area, since it was able to relay all information from frontline commanders directly to the government.

From the looks of the city, though, Kal'Reegar could tell there probably wasn't much of a government left.

Groaning, Kal used his rifle like a crutch and forced himself to stand. A finger pressed against his transmitter, "Veetor? Gimme the status on that relay."

Static fizzled through his radio for a moment before a stammering voice got through, _"S-S-System's still functioning, but the last wave of t-troops did a number on the physical structure. This thing is not g-going to stand for much longer…did you lead them away?"_

Peering around the pillar, Kal saw a few stray husks meandering in the streets. Turian-Reaper abominations followed close behind with rifles at the ready, as if using the husks like varren to track their prey.

"Yeah." Kal sighed, letting his exhaustion be known. He then chuckled, "Dumb bastards will chase anyone who shakes their ass at them long enough. I'll double back to you guys in a few minutes. Casualties?"

The line was silent for a moment, _"Cura's dead. I don't know about Vanto yet… I'm…h-hu-hurt bad."_

Kal slid behind the pillar, and let his voice drop low. "You're gonna be okay, Veetor," the marine said softly, "I promise that."

He heard the growl of husks approaching. It was as if they could smell his wounds, smell the blood that dripped.

Forcing his feet forward, the quarian took off in a hard sprint. The growls turned into snarls, the dragging feet turned into slashing cuts across the hard ground.

One more trick was all that Kal had left. A building ahead was hit hard by turian and Reaper artillery, leaving its foundations extremely weak. One strong blast could bring the whole structure down.

A bullet slammed into his shields, a flash of heat fizzled across his back as he stumbled forward. Spinning as he fell, Kal's eyes found a blood-drenched husk diving for him. His omni-blade hummed to life, two long prongs struck out from his wrist and impaled the abomination through its chest.

The creature barely seemed to notice, snapping its jaws at the quarian. Lifting his rifle with his free hand, Kal dug his elbow into the ground and fired at another husk, splitting its head in two. Then with all his might he forced the one stuck to his omni-blade to the side, crashing it into a boulder of smashed concrete.

Attempting to get to his feet, Kal cursed as he felt his side light on fire with agony. Adrenaline wasn't going to cut it anymore.

* * *

Veetor'Nara looked at his arm, or rather what was left of it, in disbelief. It was a shredded mass of meat, gone from the elbow up. He still struggled to recount how he lost his own limb.

The memories came to him like flashes of lightning, bright and vivid for only the briefest of moments before fading into blackness.

Harsh wind from the top of the comm relay, sparks from welding a panel damaged from shrapnel, screams of bio-mechanical abominations, gunshots…too many gunshots. Then a shockwave, an orange fireball…darkness.

He had woken under a pile of dirt and rubble, arm gone and in an indescribable amount of agony.

Cura and Vanto dug him out, wrapped his stump of a limb in medi-gel and tucked him inside the semi-reinforced 'bunker' that was beneath the relay.

The quarian then watched in horror via the relay's cameras as Cura, Vanto, and three other remaining Migrant Fleet Marines took on yet another wave of Reaper ground troops. They threw themselves at the marines' line, a flood of husks first, followed by legions of armed infantry. Then the brutes came.

With a combined barrage of gunfire, the marines dropped the first beast from a distance, but the second one broke the line. It grabbed Cura, the girl cursing and jabbing her knife into its head, and proceed to rip her in half. Chucking her lower half at Vanto, the rest of Cura was slammed into the side of the relay, smashing the last camera. Veetor was treated to the horrible sounds of battle playing on outside his door, no way to see what horrors could be happening.

The last of the explosions and gunshots rang out over ten minutes ago. Veetor had no idea who won, and no idea what was waiting for him on the other side of the door.

A harsh rapping from the other side didn't quell his fears.

Right hand shakily snatching up a pistol, Veetor pressed himself against the far wall and aimed as best as he could.

Parting, the door revealed Staff Sergeant Vanto. His green and black suit, once covered in cloth of intricate designs and hardened armor, was torn to shreds. Large gashes across his arms and chest showed where the second brute had struck. His visor was shattered, cold gray eyes were staring at Veetor's.

"If you're done playin' soldier, Kal's on his way back and he wants a status report as soon as he gets here." The marine growled, tiredness and frustration weigh his voice down.

With that he retreated back up the stairway that lead to the trench surrounding the relay. Bodies, quarian and Reaper alike, were sprawled everywhere as if paint upon a grotesque canvas. Veetor remembered all the names of every marine. He recognized the dead ones instantly.

Cura. Irani. Ko'Lun. Txera.

And those were just the ones he could see. There were originally twenty of them.

"A-Are you the only one that's left?" Veetor asked as he stared at the gargantuan corpse of the brute. It was covered in blood. _Quarian_ blood.

The quarian marine groaned as he sat upon the dead monstrosity's head, "Yeah. This fuckin' thing ripped Cura in half. Got the rest of my boys when it charged." He spat on the thing, no visor in his way to hinder him.

Veetor knew he should've been surprised, that he should be shocked that only three quarians remained out of a force of twenty, only being here for a week's time. Maybe he was succumbing to infection or sickness, and his brain was just starting to slow down.

A loud beep brought Veetor back to attention. Omni-tool aglow, Vanto grimaced, "No damn way…"

"What?"

"Those krogan reinforcements that were promised to relieve us _three days_ ago?" He held up his omni-tool for Veetor to see, "Looks like they're trapped in the city of Huratan. Reapers threw a battalion-sized force the moment they started to make some headway."

"So that means…"

Vanto just snorted and chuckled, "We were already screwed…this is just icing on the freakin' cake."

Eyes drifting away, Veetor's eyes caught a Sovereign-class Reaper blasting a skyscraper with its main beam. The quarian could only imagine how many could've been inside, how many men, how many women, how many _children_.

Rising, Vanto shoved past his one-armed ally. "Come on," he sighed, "help me collect clips and grenades, we'll need whatever we can get."

Silently, Veetor followed, holding onto his stump of an arm with the only hand he had left.

The Staff Sergeant quickly kneeled by the first body he found. Ko'Lun.

With rough hands, Vanto rummaged through his dead comrade's pack. He then flipped the body over and yanked off the grenade belt wrapped tightly around Ko'Lun's waist.

"Do you h-have to treat them so roughly?" Veetor admonished softly. "He deserves better c-c-care then th-that."

Vanto's hands halted, the marine's head fell low. "What…What the fuck do you want me to do?" He stood, rage seemed to make his cold eyes turn hot, "Incase you haven't noticed, which I'm pretty sure you haven't, we are all dead!" Dropping the grenade belt, the marine moved with supernatural quickness as he closed the gap between him and Veetor. Thick fingers wrapped around the other's throat, "Within the next few hours we'll all be dead! You hear me? DEAD!"

Tears blurring his sight, Veetor tried to look away but the marine wouldn't let him.

"What does it matter if I treat a _corpse_ with 'care'? I'll be joining the rest of them shortly!"

A gun appeared at the side of Vanto's head, "Let him go, Sergeant."

Immediately the marine complied to the order, "Sorry, sir. Anger got the best of me."

Kal's reply was cold, "Don't let it happen again." Turning to the other quarian, Kal looked over Veetor. His suit was stained with blood and soot, torn up along both arms. One was all but gone at the elbow.

"I-It looks worse than it f-f-fe-feels." Veetor stammered, his right hand clutching the stump tightly.

He was hopped-up on medi-gel and painkillers, of course it looked worse than it felt. Sighing, Kal nodded for the relay, "Is that big bitch still in business?"

"Yes." Veetor immediately nodded. "Though s-signal traffic has d-de-decreased over the past few hours."

Reapers destroying more cities most likely, weeding out the remnants of the Hierarchy's command. Who knows who their Primarch was now?

"Any word on our krogan friends?"

Vanto spat at the ground, "Yeah. They're caught up over in Huratan. Won't be here for weeks. Might not get here at all." Looking over the bodies of husks and quarians alike, he let out a long sigh, "We're all that's left in this sector, sir."

A year ago, Kal would've smiled at this situation. No reinforcements, undermanned, outnumbered, outgunned. It would've been just another challenge for the marine. Then Haestrom happened. Then Palaven happened. What was once a raging fire within Kal'Reegar was slowly being choked out by the Reapers, leaving nothing but a tiny candle on a dangerously thin wick.

Bright as a star, Kal's omni-tool wrapped around his arm with glowing life. A priority hail from Palaven Command.

As if reading his superior's mind, Veetor immediately sprinted for the comm relay's bunker, knowing his omni-tool couldn't hold a secure signal. The two marines silently followed.

* * *

"…_and that's our situation in orbit. We've only been able to keep some form of coordination with all the fleets thanks to relay stations like yours all over the planet." _General Messallus' holographic form explained slowly. _"How are you holding on your end, Captain?"_

"We're screwed, General. The krogan that were supposed to come our way had a battalion thrown at 'em. I'm down to two men, and more of those abominations are heading our way. So in short, just another day at the office, sir."

The turian placed a talon to his chin,_ "What the quarian people have done for us has proven to be invaluable, what's left of our Hierarchy acknowledges your service." _He paused for but the briefest of moments, _"I can divert a dropship to come pick you and your men up, get you to a safer part of the planet and then off world."_

Kal's eyes fell low. All their suits were torn, they carried _Keelah _knows how many infections in their systems. And there was only three of them. It would be a futile effort.

He still turned to his men, gathering their wordless responses.

Vanto merely stared back, already accepting his coming fate.

Veetor nodded.

The quarian turned back to the waiting General. "Sir, we can't risk letting the relay fall while your men extracted us. Besides…" A tiny grin formed as he looked at the bleeding wound in his side, "With so many breaches to our exo-suits, evac would be pointless."

"_So, you're saying-"_

"We're all dead anyway," Kal said, grin still there. "Just make them pay for it."

* * *

Peace.


End file.
